On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 09:25:45 +0100, "Steve Lusardi"
wrote:

Bruce,
I have read those article as well as others over the fullnest of time and in
every case that repair is touted as the best possible in the history of
mankind, but in every case there is no information on the success of that
same repair after a few years. This is the case I have made in my first
reply. Every repair is different and there are a myiad of products out there
to be used. Some are very good sometimes, under certain circumstances, but
rarely is any product good everywhere all the time. The ultimate test is
time. Every owner thinking of making a teak repair must search out those
repairs most like the one he is contemplating AFTER a few years of service.
Only then will he know the answers to his questions are viable. There is
just far too much BS advise out there for free for my liking. Been there and
been bit.
Steve

"Bruce in Bangkok" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:01:29 +0100, Daniele Fua
wrote:

I would like to make some repairs to the teak deck of my boat. Where can
I find some literature on the subject? I mean reliable web pages or
books regarding types and aging of teak wood, cutting, splines,
caulking, glueing and other technicalities alike.
Thank you very much
Daniel

If you can locate back copies of Practical Boat Owner, a British
magazine, there have been several articles over the years of renewing
teak decks.

You can also research the Sika (the people that make Sikaflex) website
as they make adhesives and caulking especially for repairing/building
teak decks and have (I believe) some pretty explicate instructions
there.

In reference to types of teak, about all teak now comes from either
Burma or Cambodia as there has been no legal teak cut in Thailand for
years.


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)



First of all, I am assuming that you are talking about the teak
overlay on a fiberglass boat. NOT a solid laid teak deck on a wooden
boat.

I also noticed that you used the word "repair". I have been assuming
that you mean "replace" as I know of no good method of repairing a
teak on a fiberglass boat. In fact, if your deck is installed using
screws and it is in bad enough shape that you are thinking "repair" it
really needs removing and a good investigation made to be sure that
the deck structure is still solid.

If you elect to glue the teak down (and you are stupid not to glue it)
then there are multitudes of decks to look at. The people that I know
who are in the business (both in Australia and Thailand) use Sikaflex
adhesive and caulking and follow the manufacturer's recommendations.

The only decks I personally know of that had troubles were (1) an
Australian laid deck on a Super yacht using 3M 5200 (that may have
been past its "use by" date) - they flew a crew from Cairns to Phuket
to re-lay it, and (2) a deck laid by a Thai group that had never done
it before - they didn't do a good job in clamping and had a lot of
loose strips to fix.

Basically it is a pretty simple task, you are gluing strips of wood
down on the deck. The biggest problem is that you are going to have to
edge set the strips. i.e., bend them sideways. You need to devise a
good strong clamping system to hold the strips tightly until the
adhesive cures (a day or so, at least) which, depending on your boat
may not be easy.

Once you have the strips glued down you caulk the grooves and when
that is cured sand the whole thing smooth.

Here, and teak is not cheap here, the thinnest strips they will use is
6 mm (about 1/4") and the carpenters prefer to use (8mm - 3/8") or
even 12 mm (1/2"). I have seen articles in British books where they
cut a step on the edge of each strip to take the caulking but they
don't do that here. After all it is only 6 mm. they use spacers to be
sure that the gap between the teak strips is even and just caulk it.

Basically it is just a pretty surface, it contributes no strength.

Question: Have you contacted Sika for their recommendations?

For information only: the cost in Phuket, Thailand, using Burmese
teak, for 1/4" - 6mm teak deck is between 10,000 baht (US$ 333) and
12,000 baht ( US$ 400) baht a square metres.

I have a certain amount of experience in this kind of repair (I just
finished re-coring the deck on a 35 ft. power boat) and a Thai Boat
Carpenter who does quite a bit of work for me specializes in teak
decks so I can probably give you some pointers.

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)